Call number E444 .R78 1838 (Wilson Annex, UNC-CH)

The electronic edition
is a part of
the UNC-CH digitization project Documenting the American South.
Running titles on
each page of the text have not been preserved.
Any hyphens occurring
in line breaks have been removed.
All quotation marks,
ampersand and dollar signs have been transcribed as entity references. All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as
" and " respectively.
Indentation in all
poems' lines has not been preserved.

Library of Congress Subject Headings, 19th edition,
1996

LC Subject Headings:

Roper, Moses.

Slaves -- North Carolina -- Biography.

Slaves -- South Carolina -- Biography.

Slavery -- North Carolina.

Slavery -- South Carolina.

Slaves' writings, American -- North Carolina.

Slaves' writings, American -- South Carolina.

A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES AND
ESCAPEOFMOSES ROPER, FROM
AMERICAN
SLAVERY;

WITH A PREFACE BY THE
REV. T.
PRICE, D.D.

"Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free:
They touch our country, and their shackles fall.
That's noble! and bespeaks a nation proud
And jealous of the blessing. Spread it then,
And let it circulate through every vein."

PHILADELPHIA:
MERRIHEW & GUNN, PRINTERS.
1838.

PREFACE.

THE following narrative was to have appeared
under the auspices of the Rev. Dr. Morison, of
Chelsea, whose generous exertions on behalf of
Moses Roper have entitled him to the admiration
and gratitude of every philanthropist. But the
illness of the doctor having prevented him from
reading the manuscript, I have been requested to
supply his lack of service. To this request I
assent reluctantly, as the narrative would have
derived a fuller sanction and wider currency, had
circumstances permitted the original purpose to
be carried out. Moses Roper was introduced to
Dr. Morison by an eminent American abolitionist,
in a letter, dated November 9th, 1835, in
which honourable testimony is borne to his general
character, and the soundness of his religious
profession. "He has spent about ten days in
my house," says Dr. Morison's correspondent;
"I have watched him attentively, and have no
doubt that he is an excellent young man, that he
possesses uncommon intelligence, sincere piety,
and a strong desire to preach the gospel. He

can tell you his own story better than any one
else; and I believe that if he should receive an
education, he would be able to counteract the
false and wicked misrepresentations of American
slavery, which are made in your country by our
Priests and Levites who visit you."

Dr. Morison, as might have been anticipated
from his well-known character, heartily responded
to the appeal of his American correspondent.
He sent his letter to the Patriot newspaper, remarking
in his own communication to the editor,
"I have seen Moses Roper, the fugitive slave.
He comes to this country, as you will perceive,
well authenticated as to character and religious
standing; and my anxiety is, that the means may
forthwith be supplied by some of your generous
readers, for placing him in some appropriate
seminary, for the improvement of his mind, that
he may be trained for future usefulness in the
church. His thirst for knowledge is great; and
he may yet become a most important agent in
liberating his country from the curse of slavery."

Moses Roper brought with him to this country
several other testimonies, from persons residing
in different parts of the States; but it is unnecessary
to extend this preface by quoting them.
They all speak the same language, and bear unequivocal
witness to his sobriety, intelligence,
and honesty.

He is now in the land of freedom, and is
earnestly desirous of availing himself of the advantages
of his position. His great ambition is
to be qualified for usefulness amongst his own
people; and the progress he has already made
justifies the belief that if the means of education
can be secured for a short time longer, he will
be eminently qualified to instruct the children of
Africa in the truths of the gospel of Christ. He
has drawn up the following narrative, partly with
the hope of being assisted in this legitimate object,
and partly to engage the sympathies of our
countrymen on behalf of his oppressed brethren.
I trust that he will not be disappointed in either
of these expectations, but that all the friends of
humanity and religion among us will cheerfully
render him their aid, by promoting the circulation
of his volume. Should this be done to the
extent that is quite possible, the difficulties now
lying in his way will be removed.

Of the narrative itself, it is not necessary that
I should say much. It is his own production,
and carries with it internal evidence of truth.
Some of its statements will probably startle those
readers who are unacquainted with the details of
the slave system; but no such feeling will be
produced in any who are conversant with the
practice of slavery, whether in America or our
own colonies. There is no vice too loathsome --

no passion too cruel or remorseless, to be engendered
by this horrid system. It brutalizes
all who administer it; and seeks to efface the
likeness of God, stamped on the brow of its
victims. It makes the former class demons, and
reduces the latter to the level of brutes.

I could easily adduce from the records of our
own slave system, as well as from those of America,
several instances of equal atrocity to any
which Moses Roper has recorded. But this is
unnecessary; and I shall therefore merely add
the unqualified expression of my own confidence
in the truth of his narrative, and my strong recommendation
of it to the patronage of the British
public.

INTRODUCTION.

THE determination of
laying this little narrative
before the public did not arise from any desire
to make myself conspicuous, but with the view
of exposing the cruel system of slavery, as will
here be laid before my readers; from the urgent
calls of nearly all the friends to whom I had related
any part of the story, and also from the
recommendation of anti-slavery meetings, which
I have attended, through the suggestion of many
warm friends of the cause of the oppressed.

The general narrative, I am aware, may seem
to many of my readers, and especially to those
who have not been before put in possession of
the actual features of this accursed system, somewhat
at variance with the dictates of humanity.
But the facts related here do not come before the
reader unsubstantiated by collateral evidence, nor
highly colored to the disadvantage of cruel taskmasters.

My readers may be put in possession of facts
respecting this system which equal in cruelty my
own narrative, on an authority which may be
investigated with the greatest satisfaction. Besides

which, this little book will not be confined
to a small circle of my own friends in London,
or even in England. The slave-holder, the colonizationist,
and even Mr. Gooch himself, will be
able to obtain this document, and be at liberty to
draw from it whatever they are honestly able, in
order to set me down as the tool of a party.
Yea, even friend Breckenridge, a gentleman
known at Glasgow, will be able to possess this,
and to draw from it all the forcible arguments on
his own side, which in his wisdom, honesty, and
candor he may be able to adduce.

The earnest wish to lay this narrative before
my friends as an impartial statement of facts, has
led me to develope some part of my conduct
which I now deeply deplore. The ignorance in
which the poor slaves are kept by their masters,
precludes almost the possibility of their being
alive to any moral duties.

With these remarks, I leave the statement
before the public. May this little volume be
the instrument of opening the eyes of the ignorant
to this system; of convincing the wicked,
cruel, and hardened slave holder; and of befriending
generally the cause of oppressed humanity.

ESCAPE, &c.

I was born in North
Carolina, in Caswell county, I am not able to tell in what year or
month. What I shall now relate is, what was
told me by my mother and grandmother. A few
months before I was born, my father married my
mother's young mistress. As soon as my father's
wife heard of my birth, she sent one of my
mother's sisters to see whether I was white or
black, and when my aunt had seen me, she returned
back as soon as she could, and told her
mistress that I was white, and resembled Mr.
Roper very much. Mr. R.'s wife being not
pleased with this report, she got a large club
stick and knife, and hastened to the place in
which my mother was confined. She went into
my mother's room with full intention to murder
me with her knife and club, but as she was going
to stick the knife into me, my grandmother happening
to come in, caught the knife and saved

my life. But as well as I can recollect from
what my mother told me, my father sold her and
myself soon after her confinement. I cannot recollect
any thing that is worth notice till I was
six or seven years old. My mother being half
white, and my father a white man, I was at that
time very white. Soon after I was six or seven
years of age, my mother's old master died, that
is, my father's wife's father. All his slaves had
to be divided among the children.* I have mentioned
before of my father disposing of me; I am
not sure whether he exchanged me and my mother
for another slave or not, but think it very
likely he did exchange me with one of his wife's
brothers or sisters, because I remember when my
mother's old master died, I was living with my
father's wife's brother-in-law, whose name was
Mr. Durham. My mother was drawn with the
other slaves.

The way they divide their slaves is this: they
write the names of different slaves on a small

piece of paper, and put it into a box, and let them
all draw. I think that Mr. Durham drew my
mother, and Mr. Fowler drew me, so we were
separated a considerable distance, I cannot say
how far. My resembling my father so very
much, and being whiter than the other slaves,
caused me to be soon sold to what they call a
negro trader who took me to the southern states
of America, several hundred miles from my mother.
As well as I can recollect, I was then
about six years old. The trader, Mr. Michael,
after travelling several hundred miles and selling
a good many of his slaves, found he could not
sell me very well, (as I was so much whiter than
the other slaves were,) for he had been trying
several months -- left me with a Mr. Sneed, who
kept a large boarding-house, who took me to
wait at table, and sell me if he could. I think I
stayed with Mr. Sneed about a year, but he could
not sell me. When Mr. Michael had sold his
slaves, he went to the north and bought up
another drove, and returned to the south with
them, and sent his son-in-law into Washington,
in Georgia, after me; so he came and took me
from Mr. Sneed. and met his father-in-law with

me, in a town called Lancaster, with his drove
of slaves. We stayed in Lancaster a week, because
it was court week, and there were a great
many people there, and it was a good opportunity
for selling the slaves, and there he was enabled
to sell me to a gentleman, Dr. Jones, who
was both a doctor and a cotton planter. He took
me into his shop to beat up and to mix medicines,
which was not a very hard employment,
but I did not keep it long, as the doctor soon sent
me to his cotton plantation, that I might be burnt
darker by the sun. He sent for me to be with a
tailor to learn the trade, but all the journeymen
being white men, Mr. Bryant, the tailor, did not
let me work in the shop; I cannot say whether
it was the prejudice of his journeymen in not
wanting me to sit in the shop with them, or
whether Mr. Bryant wanted to keep me about
the house to do the domestic work instead of
teaching me the trade. After several months
my master came to know how I got on with the
trade; I am not able to tell Mr. Bryant's answer,
but it was either that I could not learn, or that
his journeymen were not willing that I should
sit in the shop with them. I was only once in

the shop all the time I was there, and then only
for an hour or two, before his wife called me out
to do some other work. So my master took me
home, and as he was going to send a load of cotton
to Camden, about forty miles distance, he
sent me with the bales of cotton to be sold with
it, where I was soon sold to a gentleman named
Allen, but Mr. Allen soon exchanged me for a
female slave to please his wife. The traders
who bought me were named Cooper and Linsey,
who took me for sale, but could not sell me, people
objecting to my being rather white. They
then took me to the city of Fayetteville, North
Carolina, where he swopt me for a boy that was
blacker than me, to Mr. Smith, who lived several
miles off.

I was with Mr. Smith nearly a year. I arrived
at the first knowledge of my age when I
lived with him. I was then between twelve and
thirteen years old, it was when President Jackson
was elected the first time, and he has been
president eight years, so I must be nearly twenty-one
years of age. At this time I was quite a
small boy, and was sold to Mr. Hodge, a negro
trader. Here I began to enter into hardships.

After travelling several hundred miles, Mr. Hodge
sold me to Mr. Gooch, the cotton planter, Cashaw
county, South Carolina; he purchased me
at a town called Liberty Hill, about three miles
from his home. As soon as he got home, he immediately
put me on his cotton plantation to
work, and put me under overseers, gave me allowance
of meat and bread with the other slaves,
which was not half enough for me to live upon,
and very laborious work. Here my heart was
almost broke with grief at leaving my fellow
slaves. Mr. Gooch did not mind my grief, for
he flogged me nearly every day, and very severely.
Mr. Gooch bought me for his son-in-law,
Mr. Hammans, about five miles from his
residence. This man had but two slaves besides
myself; he treated me very kindly for a week or
two, but in summer, when cotton was ready to
hoe, he gave me task work connected with this
department, which I could not get done, not having
worked on cotton farms before. When I
failed in my task, he commenced flogging me,
and set me to work without any shirt in the
cotton field, in a very hot sun, in the month of
July. In August, Mr. Condell, his overseer,

gave me a task at pulling fodder. Having finished
my task before night, I left the field; the rain came
on, which soaked the fodder. On discovering
this, he threatened to flog me for not getting in
the fodder before the rain came. This was the
first time I attempted to run away, knowing that
I should get a flogging. I was then between
thirteen and fourteen years of age. I ran away
to the woods half naked; I was caught by a
slave-holder, who put me in Lancaster jail.
When they put slaves in jail, they advertise for
their masters to own them; but if the master
does not claim his slave in six months from the
time of imprisonment, the slave is sold for jail
fees. When the slave runs away, the master
always adopts a more rigorous system of flogging;
this was the case in the present instance.
After this, having determined from my youth to
gain my freedom, I made several attempts, was
caught and got a severe flogging of one hundred
lashes each time. Mr. Hammans was a very
severe and cruel master, and his wife still worse;
she used to tie me up and flog me while naked.

After Mr. Hammans saw that I was determined
to die in the woods, and not live with him, he

tried to obtain a piece of land from his father-in-law,
Mr. Gooch; not having the means of purchasing
it, he exchanged me for the land.

As soon as Mr. Gooch had possession of me
again, knowing that I was averse to going back
to him, he chained me by the neck to his chaise.
In this manner he took me to his home at
MacDaniel's Ferry, in the county of Chester, a
distance of fifteen miles. After which, he put
me into a swamp, to cut trees, the heaviest work
which men of twenty-five or thirty years of age
have to do, I being but sixteen. Here I was on
very short allowance of food, and having heavy
work, was too weak to fulfil my tasks. For this
I got many severe floggings; and after I had got
my irons off, I made another attempt at running
away. He took my irons off in the full anticipation
that I could never get across the Catarba
River, even when at liberty. On this I procured
a small Indian canoe, which was tied to a tree,
and ultimately got across the river in it. I then
wandered through the wilderness for several days
without any food, and but a drop of water to allay
my thirst, till I became so starved, that I was
obliged to go to a house to beg for something

Mr. Gooch, having heard of me through an advertisement,
sent his son after me; he tied me
up, and took me back to his father. Mr. Gooch
then obtained the assistance of another slave-holder,
and tied me up in his blacksmith's shop,
and gave me fifty lashes with a cow-hide. He
then put a long chain, weighing twenty-five
pounds, round my neck, and sent me into a field,
into which he followed me with the cow-hide,
intending to set his slaves to flog me again.
Knowing this, and dreading to suffer again in
this way, I gave him the slip, and got out of his
sight, he having stopped to speak with the other
slave-holder.

I got to a canal on the Catarba River, on the
banks of which, and near to a lock, I procured a
stone and a piece of iron, with which I forced
the ring off my chain, and got it off, and then
crossed the river, and walked about twenty miles,
when I fell in with a slave-holder named Ballad,
who had married the sister of Mr. Hammans. I
knew that he was not so cruel as Mr. Gooch,
and, therefore, begged of him to buy me. Mr.

Ballad, who was one of the best planters in the
neighbourhood, said, that he was not able to buy
me, and stated, that he was obliged to take me
back to my master, on account of the heavy fine
attaching to a man harbouring a slave. Mr. Ballad
proceeded to take me back. As we came in
sight of Mr. Gooch's, all the treatment that I had
met with there came forcibly upon my mind, the
powerful influence of which is beyond description.
On my knees, with tears in my eyes, with
terror in my countenance, and fervency in all
my features, I implored Mr. Ballad to buy me,
but he again refused, and I was taken back to
my dreaded and cruel master. Having reached
Mr. Gooch's, he proceeded to punish me. This
he did by first tying my wrists together, and
placing them over the knees ; he then put a stick
through, under my knees and over my arms, and
having thus secured my arms, he proceeded to
flog me, and gave me five hundred lashes on my
bare back. This may appear incredible, but the
marks which they left at present remain on my
body, a standing testimony to the truth of this
statement of his severity. He then chained me
down in a log-pen with a 40 lb. chain, and made

me lie on the damp earth all night. In the morning
after his breakfast he came to me, and without
giving me any breakfast, tied me to a large
heavy barrow, which is usually drawn by a
horse, and made me drag it to the cotton field for
the horse to use in the field. Thus, the reader
will see, that it was of no possible use to my
master to make me drag it to the field, and not
through it; his cruelty went so far as actually to
make me the slave of his horse, and thus to degrade
me. He then flogged me again, and set
me to work in the corn field the whole of that
day, and at night chained me down in the log-pen
as before. The next morning he took me to the
cotton field, and gave me a third flogging, and
set me to hoe cotton. At this time I was dreadfully
sore and weak with the repeated floggings
and harsh treatment I had endured. He put me
under a black man with orders, that if I did not
keep my row up in hoeing with this man, he was
to flog me. The reader must recollect here, that
not being used to this kind of work, having been
a domestic slave, it was quite impossible for me
to keep up with him, and, therefore, I was repeatedly
flogged during the day.

Mr. Gooch had a female slave about eighteen
years old, who also had been a domestic slave,
and through not being able to fulfil her task, had
run away; which slave he was at this time punishing
for that offence. On the third day, he
chained me to this female slave, with a large chain
of 40 lbs. weight round the neck. It was most
harrowing to my feelings thus to be chained to
a young female slave, for whom I would rather
have suffered a hundred lashes than she should
have been thus treated. He kept me chained to
her during the week, and repeatedly flogged us
both while thus chained together, and forced us
to keep up with the other slaves, although retarded
by the heavy weight of the log-chain.

Here again words are insufficient to describe
the misery which possessed both body and mind
whilst under this treatment, and which was most
dreadfully increased by the sympathy which I
felt for my poor degraded fellow sufferer. On
the Friday morning, I entreated my master to set
me free from my chains, and promised him to do
the task which was given me, and more if possible,
if he would desist from flogging me. This
he refused to do until Saturday night, when he

did set me free. This must rather be ascribed
to his own interest in preserving me from death,
as it was very evident I could no longer have
survived under such treatment.

After this, though still determined in my own
mind to escape, I stayed with him several
months, during which he frequently flogged me,
but not so severely as before related. During
this time I had opportunity for recovering my
health, and using means to heal my wounds.
My master's cruelty was not confined to me, it
was his general conduct to all his slaves. I
might relate many instances to substantiate this,
but will confine myself to one or two. Mr.
Gooch, it is proper to observe, was a member of
a Baptist church, called Black Jack Meeting-House,
in Cashaw county, which church I attended
for several years, but was never inside.
This is accounted for by the fact, that the coloured
population are not permitted to mix with the
white population. Mr. Gooch had a slave named
Phil,* who was a member of a Methodist church.
This man was between seventy and eighty years
of age; he was so feeble that he could not accomplish

his tasks, for which his master used to
chain him round the neck, and run him down a
steep hill; this treatment he never relinquished
to the time of his death. Another case was that
of a slave named Peter, who, for not doing his
task, he flogged nearly to death, and afterwards
pulled out his pistol to shoot him, but his (Mr.
Gooch's) daughter snatched the pistol from his
hand. Another mode of punishment which this
man adopted was, that of using iron horns, with
bells, attached to the back of the slave's neck.

This instrument he used to
prevent the negroes running away, being a very ponderous machine,
seven feet in height, and the cross pieces being
two feet four, and six feet in length. This custom
is generally adopted among the slave-holders
in South Carolina, and some other slave states.
One morning, about an hour before daybreak, I
was going on an errand for my master. Having
proceeded about a quarter of a mile, I came up
to a man named King, (Mr. Sumlin's overseer,)
who had caught a young girl that had run away
with the above-described machine on her. She
had proceeded four miles from her station, with
the intention of getting into the hands of a more

was adopted by masters towards their slaves.
As I have never read or heard of any thing connected
with slavery so cruel as what I have myself
witnessed, it will be well to mention a case
or two.

A large farmer, Colonel M'Quiller, in Cashaw
county, South Carolina, was in the habit of
driving nails into a hogshead so as to leave the
point of the nail just protruding in the inside of
the cask. Into this he used to put his slaves for
punishment, and roll them down a very long and
steep hill. I have heard from several slaves,
(though I had no means of ascertaining the truth
of the statement,) that in this way he killed six
or seven of his slaves. This plan was first
adopted by a Mr. Perry, who lived on the Catarba
River, and has since been adopted by several
planters. Another was that of a young lad, who
had been hired by Mr. Bell, a member of a Methodist
church, to hoe three quarters of an acre
of cotton per day. Having been brought up as
a domestic slave, he was not able to accomplish
the task assigned to him. On the Saturday
night, he left three or four rows to do on the
Sunday; on the same night it rained very hard,

by which the master could tell that he had done
some of the rows on Sunday. On Monday his
master took and tied him up to a tree in the
field, and kept him there the whole of that day,
and flogged him at intervals. At night, when he
was taken down, he was so weak that he could
not get home, having a mile to go. Two white
men, who were employed by Mr. Bell, put him
on a horse, took him home, and threw him down
on the kitchen floor, while they proceeded to
their supper. In a little time they heard some
deep groans proceeding from the kitchen; they
went to see him die; he had groaned his last.
Thus, Mr. Bell flogged this poor boy even to
death; for what ? for breaking the Sabbath, when
he (his master) had set him a task on Saturday
which it was not possible for him to do, and
which, if he did not do, no mercy would be extended
towards him. So much for the regard of
this Methodist for the observance of the Sabbath.
The general custom in this respect is, that if a
man kills his own slave, no notice is taken of it
by the civil functionaries; but if a man kills a
slave belonging to another master, he is compelled
to pay the worth of the slave. In this case,

a jury met, returned a verdict of "Wilful murder"
against this man, and ordered him to pay
the value. Mr. Bell was unable to do this, but
a Mr. Cunningham paid the debt, and took this
Mr. Bell, with this recommendation for cruelty,
to be his overseer.

It will be observed, that most of the cases here
cited are those in respect to males. Many instances,
however, in respect to females might be
mentioned, but are too disgusting to appear in
this narrative. The cases here brought forward
are not rare, but the continued feature of slavery.
But I must now follow up the narrative as regards
myself in particular. I stayed with this
master for several months, during which time
we went on very well in general. In August,
1831, (this was my first acquaintance with any
date,) I happened to hear a man mention this
date, and, as it excited my curiosity, I asked
what it meant; they told me it was the number
of the year from the birth of Christ. On this
date, August, 1831, some cows broke into a crib
where the corn is kept, and ate a great deal.
For this his slaves were tied up and received
several floggings; but myself and another man,

hearing the groans of those who were being flogged,
stayed back in the field, and would not come
up. Upon this I thought to escape punishment.
On the Monday morning, however, I heard my
master flogging the other man who was in the
field. He could not see me, it being a field of
Indian corn, which grows to a great height.
Being afraid that he would catch me, and dreading
a flogging more than many others, I determined
to run for it, and after travelling forty miles
I arrived at the estate of Mr. Crawford, in North
Carolina, Mecklinburgh county. Having formerly
heard people talk about the free states, I
determined upon going thither, and if possible,
in my way, to find out my poor mother, who
was in slavery several hundred miles from Chester;
but the hope of doing the latter was very
faint, and, even if I did, it was not likely that she
would know me, having been separated from her
when between five and six years old.

The first night I slept
in a barn upon Mr.
Crawford's estate, and, having overslept myself,
was awoke by Mr. Crawford's overseer, upon
which I was dreadfully frightened. He asked
me what I was doing there? I made no reply

to him then, and he making sure that he had secured
a runaway slave, did not press me for an
answer. On my way to his house, however, I
made up the following story, which I told him
in the presence of his wife: -- I said, that I had
been bound to a very cruel master when I was a
little boy, and that having been treated very badly,
I wanted to get home to see my mother.
This statement may appear to some to be a direct
lie, but as I understood the word bound, I considered
it to apply to my case, having been sold to
him, and thereby bound to serve him; though
still, I rather hope that he would understand
it, that I was bound, when a boy, till twenty-one
years of age. Though I was white at the time,
he would not believe my story, on account of my
hair being curly and woolly, which led him to
conclude I was possessed of enslaved blood.
The overseer's wife, however, who seemed much
interested in me, said she did not think I was of
African origin, and that she had seen white men
still darker than me. Her persuasion prevailed ;
and, after the overseer had given me as much
buttermilk as I could drink, and something to
eat, which was very acceptable, having had nothing

for two days, I set off for Charlotte in
North Carolina, the largest town in the county.
I went on very quickly the whole of that day,
fearful of being pursued. The trees were very
thick on each side of the road, and only a few
houses at the distance of two or three miles apart.
As I proceeded, I turned round in all directions
to see if I was pursued, and if I caught a glimpse
of any one coming along the road, I immediately
rushed into the thickest part of the wood, to elude
the grasp of what I was afraid might be my master.
I went on in this way the whole day; at
night I came up with two wagons: they had
been to market. The regular road wagons do
not generally put up at inns, but encamp in the
roads and fields. When I came to them, I told them
the same story I had told Mr. Crawford's overseer,
with the assurance that the statement would
meet the same success. After they had heard
me, they gave me something to eat, and also a
lodging in the camp with them.

I then went on with them about five miles, and
they agreed to take me with them as far as they
went, if I would assist them. This I promised
to do. In the morning, however, I was much

frightened by one of the men putting several
questions to me; we were then about three miles
from Charlotte. When within a mile of that
town, we stopped at a brook to water the horses.
While stopping here, I saw the men whispering,
and fancying I overheard them say they would
put me in Charlotte jail when they got there, I
made my escape into the woods, pretending to
be looking after something till I got out of their
sight. I then ran on as fast as I could, but did
not go through the town of Charlotte, as had
been my intention; being a large town, I was
fearful it might prove fatal to my escape. Here
I was at a loss how to get on, as houses were
not very distant from each other for nearly two
hundred miles.

While thinking what I should do, I observed
some wagons before me, which I determined to
keep behind, and never go nearer to them than a
quarter of a mile; in this way I travelled till I
got to Salisbury. If I happened to meet any
person on the road, I was afraid they would take
me up; I asked them how far the wagons had
got on before me, to make them suppose I belonged
to the wagons. At night I slept on the

ground in the woods, some little distance from
the wagons, but not near enough to be seen by
the men belonging to them. All this time I had
but little food, principally fruit, which I found
on the road. On Thursday night, I got into Salisbury,
having left Chester on the Monday
morning preceding. After this, being afraid my
master was in pursuit of me, I left the usual line
of road, and took another direction, through
Huntoville and Salem, principally through fields
and woods. On my way to Caswell Courthouse,
a distance of nearly two hundred miles
from Salisbury, I was stopped by a white man,
to whom I told my old story, and again succeeded
in my escape. I also came up with a small cart,
driven by a poor man who had been moving into
some of the western territories, and was going
back to Virginia to move some more of his luggage.
On this, I told him I was going the same
way to Hilton, thirteen miles from Caswell
Court-house. He took me up in his cart, and
we went to the Red House, two miles from Hilton,
the place where Mr. Mitchell took me from
when six years old, to go to the southern states.
This was a very providential circumstance, for it

happened that at the time I had to pass through
Caswell Court-house, a fair or election was going
on, which caused the place to be much crowded
with people, and rendered it more dangerous for
me to pass through.

At the Red House I left the cart and wandered
about a long time, not knowing which way to go
to find my mother. After some time, I took the
road leading over to Ikeo Creek. I shortly came
up with a little girl about six years old, and asked
her where she was going; she said to her mother's,
pointing to a house on a hill about half a
mile off. She had been to the overseer's house,
and was returning to her mother. I then felt
some emotions arising in my breast which I cannot
describe, but will be fully explained in the
sequel. I told her that I was very thirsty, and
would go with her to get something to drink.
On our way, I asked her several questions, such
as her name, that of her mother: she said hers
was Maria, and her mother's Nancy. I inquired
if her mother had any more children? She said
five besides herself, and that they had been told
that one had been sold when a little boy. I then
asked the name of this child? She said, it was

Moses. These answers, as we approached the
house, led me nearer and nearer to the finding
out the object of my pursuit, and of recognising
in the little girl the person of my own sister.
At last I got to my mother's house! My mother
was at home; I asked her if she knew me? She
said, No. Her master was having a house built
just by, and the men were digging a well; she
supposed that I was one of the diggers. I told
her I knew her very well, and thought that if she
looked at me a little she would know me; but
this had no effect. I then asked her if she had
any sons? She said, Yes; but none so large as
me. I then waited a few minutes, and narrated
some circumstances to her attending my being
sold into slavery, and how she grieved at my
loss. Here the mother's feelings on that dire
occasion, and which a mother only can know,
rushed to her mind; she saw her own son before
her, for whom she had so often wept; and in an
instant we were clasped in each other's arms,
amidst the ardent interchange of caresses and
tears of joy. Ten years had elapsed since I had
seen my dear mother. My own feelings, and
the circumstances attending my coming home,

have often brought to mind since, on a perusal
of the 42d, 43d, 44th, and 45th chapters of Genesis.
What could picture my feelings so well,
as I once more beheld the mother who had
brought me into the world and had nourished me,
not with the anticipation of my being torn from
her maternal care when only six years old, to
become the prey of a mercenary and blood-stained
slave-holder, -- I say, what picture so vivid in description
of this part of my tale, as the 7th and
8th verses of the 42d chapter of Genesis, "And
Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them, but
made himself strange unto them. And Joseph
knew his brethren, but they knew not him."
After the first emotion of the mother on recognising
her first-born had somewhat subsided, could
the reader not fancy the little one, my sister, as
she told her simple tale of meeting with me to
her mother, how she would say, while the parent
listened with intense interest, "The man asked
me straitly of our state and of our kindred, saying,
Is your father yet alive, and have ye another
brother?" Or, when at last, I could no longer
refrain from making myself known, I say I was
ready to burst into a frenzy of joy. How applicable

the 1st, 2d, and 3d verses of the 45th chapter,
"Then Joseph could not refrain himself before
all them that stood by him; and he wept
aloud, and said unto his brethren, I am Joseph;
doth my father still live?" Then when the mother
knew her son, when the brothers and sisters
owned their brother; "He kissed all his brethren
and wept over them, and after that his brethren
talked with him." 15th verse. At night, my
mother's husband, a blacksmith, belonging to
Mr. Jefferson, at the Red House, came home.
He was suprised to see me with the family, not
knowing who I was. He had been married to
my mother when I was a babe, and had always
been very fond of me. After the same tale had
been told him, and the same emotions filled his
soul, he again kissed the object of his early affection.
The next morning I wanted to go on my
journey, in order to make sure of my escape to
the free states. But, as might be expected, my
mother, father, brothers, and sisters, could ill
part with their long lost one, and persuaded me
to go into the woods in the daytime, and at night
come home and sleep there. This I did for about
a week. On the next Sunday night, I laid me

down to sleep between my two brothers, on a
pallet which my mother had prepared for me.
About twelve o'clock I was suddenly awoke, and
found my bed surrounded by twelve slave-holders
with pistols in hand, who took me away (not
allowing me to bid farewell to those I loved so
dearly) to the Red House, where they confined
me in a room the rest of the night, and in the
morning lodged me in the jail of Caswell Courthouse.

What was the scene at home, what sorrow
possessed their hearts, I am unable to describe,
as I never after saw any of them more. I heard,
however, that my mother, who was in the family-way
when I went home, was soon after confined,
and was very long before she recovered
the effects of this disaster. I was told afterwards
that some of those men who took me were professing
Christians, but to me they did not seem to
live up to what they professed. They did not
seem, by their practices, at least, to recognise
that God as their God, who hath said, "Thou
shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant
which is escaped from his master unto thee; he
shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that

place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates,
where it liketh him best; thou shalt not oppress
him." Deut. xxiii. 15, 16.

I was confined here in a dungeon under ground,
the grating of which looked to the door of the
jailer's house. His wife had a great antipathy
to me. She was Mr. Roper's wife's cousin.
My grandmother used to come to me nearly every
day, and bring me something to eat, besides the
regular jail allowance, by which my sufferings
were somewhat decreased. Whenever the jailer
went out, which he often did, his wife used to
come to my dungeon and shut the wooden door
over the grating, by which I was nearly suffocated,
the place being very damp and noisome.
My master did not hear of my being in jail for
thirty-one days after I had been placed there.
He immediately sent his son and son-in-law, Mr.
Anderson, after me. They came in a horse and
chaise, took me from the jail to a blacksmith's
shop, and got an iron collar fitted round my neck,
with a heavy chain attached, then tied up my
hands, and fastened the other end of the chain
on another horse, and put me on its back. Just
before we started, my grandmother came to bid

me farewell; I gave her my hand as well as I
could, and she having given me two or three presents,
we parted. I had felt enough, far too
much, for the weak state I was in; but how
shall I describe my feelings upon parting with
the last relative that I ever saw? The reader
must judge by what would be his own feelings
under similar circumstances. We then went on
for fifty miles; I was very weak, and could
hardly sit on the horse. Having been in prison
so long, I had lost the southern tan; and, as the
people could not see my hair, having my hat on,
they thought I was a white man, a criminal, and
asked what crime I had committed. We arrived
late at night at the house of Mr. Britton. I shall
never forget the journey that night. The thunder
was one continued roar, and the lightning
blazing all around. I expected every minute
that my iron collar would attract it, and I should
be knocked off the horse and dragged along the
ground. This gentleman, a year or two before,
had liberated his slaves, and sent them into Ohio,
having joined the society of Friends, which society
does not allow the holding of slaves. I was,
therefore, treated very well there, and they gave

They secured me in the night by locking me
to the post of the bed on which they slept. The
next morning we went on to Salisbury. At that
place we stopped to water the horses; they
chained me to a tree in the yard, by the side of
their chaise. On my horse they had put the
saddle bags which contained the provisions. As
I was in the yard, a black man came and asked
me what I had been doing; I told him I had run
away from my master; after which he told me
several tales about the slaves, and among them,
he mentioned the case of a Quaker, who was then
in prison, waiting to be hung, for giving a free
pass to a slave. I had been considering all the
way how I could escape from my horse, and
once had an idea of cutting his head off, but
thought it too cruel, and at last thought of trying to
get a rasp and cut the chain by which I was fastened
to the horse. As they often let me get on
nearly a quarter of a mile before them, I thought
I should have a good opportunity of doing this
without being seen. The black man procured
me a rasp, and I put it into the saddle-bags

which contained the provisions. We then went
on our journey, and one of the sons asked me if
I wanted any thing to eat; I answered, No,
though very hungry at the time, as I was afraid
of their going to the bags and discovering the
rasp. However, they had not had their own
meal at the inn, as I supposed, and went to the
bags to supply themselves, where they discovered
the rasp. Upon this, they fastened my horse
beside the horse in their chaise, and kept a
stricter watch over me. Nothing remarkable occurred,
till we got within eight miles of Mr.
Gooch's, where we stopped a short time; and,
taking advantage of their absence, I broke a switch
from some boughs above my head, lashed my
horse, and set off at full speed. I had got about
a quarter of a mile before they could get their
horse loose from the chaise; one then rode the
horse, and the other ran as fast as he could after
me. When I caught sight of them, I turned off
the main road into the woods, hoping to escape
their sight; their horse, however, being much
swifter than mine, they soon got within a short
distance of me. I then came to a rail fence,
which I found it very difficult to get over, but

breaking several rails away, I effected my object.
They then called upon me to stop, more than
three times, and I not doing so, they fired after
me, but the pistol only snapped. This is according
to law; after three calls they may shoot
a runaway slave. Soon after the one on the
horse came up with me, and catching hold of the
bridle of my horse, pushed the pistol to my side;
the other soon came up, and breaking of several
stout branches from the trees, they gave me about
a hundred blows. They did this very near to a
planter's house; the gentleman was not at home,
but his wife came out, and begged them not to
kill me so near the house: they took no notice
of this, but kept on beating me. They then fastened
me to the axle-tree of their chaise, one of
them got into the chaise, the other took my horse,
and they run me all the eight miles as fast as they
could, the one on my horse going behind to guard
me. In this way we came to my old master,
Mr. Gooch. The first person I saw was himself;
he unchained me from the chaise, and at
first seemed to treat me very gently, asking me
where I had been, &c. The first thing the sons
did, was to show the rasp which I had got to cut

my chain. My master gave me a hearty dinner,
the best he ever did give me, but it was to keep
me from dying before he had given me all the
flogging he intended. After dinner he took me
to a log-house, stripped me quite naked, fastened
a rail up very high, tied my hands to the rail,
fastened my feet together, put a rail between my
feet, and stood on one end of it to hold it down;
the two sons then gave me fifty lashes each, the
eldest another fifty, and Mr. Gooch himself fifty
more. While doing this, his wife came out and
begged him not to kill me, the first act of sympathy
I ever noticed in her. When I called for
water, they brought a pail-full and threw it over
my back, ploughed up by the lashes. After this,
they took me to the blacksmith's shop, got two
large bars of iron, which they bent round my
feet, each bar weighing twenty pounds, and put
a heavy log-chain on my neck. This was on
Saturday. On the Monday, he chained me to
the same female slave as before. As he had to
go out that day, he did not give me the punishment
which he intended to give me every day,
but at night when he came home, he made us
walk round his estate, and by all the houses of

the slaves, for them to taunt us. When we came
home, he told us we must be up very early in
the morning, and go to the fields before the other
slaves. We were up at daybreak, but we could
not get on fast, on account of the heavy irons on
my feet. We walked about a mile in two hours,
but knowing the punishment he was going to inflict
on us, we made up our minds to escape into
the woods, and secrete ourselves. This we did,
and he not being able to find us, sent all his
slaves, about forty, and his sons, to find us,
which they could not do; and about twelve
o'clock, when we thought they would give up
looking for us at that time, we went on, and
came to the banks of the Catauba. Here I got a
stone, and prized the ring of the chain on her
neck, and got it off; and as the chain round my
neck was only passed through a ring, as soon as
I had got hers off, I slipped the chain through
my ring and got it off my own neck. We then
went on by the banks of the river for some distance,
and found a little canoe about two feet
wide. I managed to get in, although the irons
on my feet made it very dangerous, for if I had
upset the canoe I could not swim. The female

got in after me, and gave me the paddles, by
which we got some distance down the river.
The current being very strong, it drove us against
a small island; we paddled round the island to
the other side, and then made towards the opposite
bank. Here again we were stopped by the
current, and made up to a large rock in the river,
between the island and the opposite shore. As
the weather was very rough, we landed on the
rock and secured the canoe, as it was not possible
to get back to the island. It was a very dark
night and rained tremendously, and as the water
was rising rapidly towards the top of the rock,
we gave all up for lost, and sometimes hoped,
and sometimes feared to hope, that we should
never see the morning. But Providence was
moving in our favour; the rain ceased, the water
reached the edge of the rock, then receded, and
we were out of danger from this cause. We remained
all night upon the rock, and in the morning
reached the opposite shore, and then made
our way through the woods, till we came to a
field of Indian corn, where we plucked some of
the green ears and eat them, having had nothing
for two days and nights. We came to the estate

of ---------, where we met with a colored man
who knew me, and having run away himself
from a bad master, he gave us some food, and
told us we might sleep in the barn that night.
Being very fatigued, we overslept ourselves; the
proprietor came to the barn, but as I was in one
corner under some Indian corn tops, and she in
another, he did not perceive us, and we did not
leave the barn before night, (Wednesday.) We
then went out, got something to eat, and stayed
about the estate till Sunday. On that day, I met
with some men, one of whom had had irons on
his feet the same as me; he told me, that his
master was going out to see his friends, and that
he would try and get my feet loose. For this
purpose I parted with this female, fearing, that
if she were caught with me, she would be forced
to tell who took my irons off. The man tried
some time without effect; he then gave me a file
and I tried myself, but was disappointed, on account
of their thickness.

On the Monday, I went on towards Lancaster,
and got within three miles of it that night, and
went towards the plantation of Mr. Crockett, as
I knew some of his slaves, and hoped to get some

food given me. When I got there, however, the
dogs smelt me out and barked; upon which Mr.
Crockett came out, followed me with his rifle,
and came up with me. He put me on a horse's
back, which put me to extreme pain, from the
great weight hanging from my feet. We reached
Lancaster jail that night, and he lodged me there.
I was placed in the next dungeon to a man who
was going to be hung. I shall never forget his
cries and groans, as he prayed all night for the
mercy of God. Mr. Gooch did not hear of me
for several weeks; when he did, he sent his son-in-law,
Mr. Anderson, after me. Mr. Gooch
himself came within a mile of Lancaster, and
waited until Mr. Anderson brought me. At this
time I had but one of the irons on my feet, having
got so thin round my ankles that I had slip-
ped one off while in jail. His son-in-law tied
my hands, and made me walk along till we came
to Mr. Gooch. As soon as we arrived at M'Daniel's
Ford, two miles above the ferry, on the
Catauba River, they made me wade across, themselves
going on horseback. The water was very
deep, and having irons on one foot and round
my neck, I could not keep a footing. They

dragged me along by my chain, floating on the
top of the water. It was as much as they could
do to hold me by the chain, the current being
very strong. They then took me home, flogged
me, put extra irons on my neck and feet, and put
me under the driver, with more work than ever I
had before. He did not flog me so severely as
before, but continued it every day. Among the instruments
of torture employed, I here describe one:

This is a machine used for packing and pressing
cotton. By it he hung me up by the hands
at letter a, a horse moving round the screw e,
and carrying it up and down, and pressing the
block c into the box d, into which the cotton is
put. At this time he hung me up for a quarter
of an hour. I was carried up ten feet from the
ground, when Mr. Gooch asked me if I was
tired. He then let me rest for five minutes, then
carried me round again, after which he let me
down and put me into the box d, and shut me down
in it for about ten minutes. After this torture, I
stayed with him several months, and did my
work very well. It was about the beginning of
1832 when he took off my irons, and being in
dread of him, he having threatened me with more
punishment, I attempted again to escape from
him. At this time I got into North Carolina;
but a reward having been offered for me, a Mr.
Robinson caught me, and chained me to a chair,
upon which he sat up with me all night, and
next day proceeded home with me. This was
Saturday, Mr. Gooch had gone to church, several
miles from his house. When he came back, the
first thing he did was to pour some tar on my

head, then rubbed it all over my face, took a
torch, with pitch on, and set it on fire. He put
it out before it did me very great injury, but the
pain which I endured was most excruciating,
nearly all my hair having been burnt off. On
Monday he put irons on me again, weighing
nearly fifty pounds. He threatened me again on
the Sunday with another flogging; and on the
Monday morning, before daybreak, I got away
again, with my irons on, and was about three
hours going a distance of two miles. I had gone
a good distance, when I met with a colored
man, who got some wedges and took my irons
off. However, I was caught again, and put into
prison in Charlotte, where Mr. Gooch came, and
took me back to Chester. He asked me how I
got my irons off? They having been got off by
a slave, I would not answer his question, for fear
of getting the man punished. Upon this, he put
the fingers of my left hand into a vice, and
squeezed all my nails off. He then had my feet
put on an anvil, and ordered a man to beat my
toes, till he smashed some of my nails off. The
marks of this treatment still remain upon me,
my nails never having grown perfect since. He

inflicted this punishment, in order to get out of
me how I got my irons off, but never succeeded.
After this he hardly knew what to do with me,
the whole stock of his cruelties seemed to be exhausted.
He chained me down in the log-house.
Soon after this, he sent a female slave to see if I
was safe. Mr. Gooch had not secured me as he
thought, but had only run my chain through the
ring, without locking it. This I observed; and
while the slave was coming, I was employed in
loosening the chain with the hand that was not
wounded. As soon as I observed her coming, I
drew the chain up tight, and she observing that I
seemed fast, went away and told her master
who was in the field ordering the slaves. When
she was gone, I drew the chain through the ring,
escaped under the flooring of the log-house, and
went on under his house, till I came out at the
other side, and ran on; but being sore and weak,
I had not got a mile before I was caught, and
again carried back. He tied me up to a tree in
the woods at night and made his slaves flog me.
I cannot say how many lashes I received, but it
was the worst flogging I ever had, and the last
which Mr. Gooch ever gave me.

There are several circumstances which occurred
on this estate while I was there, relative to
other slaves, which it may be interesting to mention.
Hardly a day ever passed without some
one being flogged. To one of his female slaves
he had given a dose of castor oil and salts together,
as much as she could take; he then got a
box, about six feet by two and a half, and one
and a half feet deep; he put this slave under the
box, and made the men fetch as many stones as
they could get, and put them on the top of it;
under this she was made to stay all night. I believe,
that if he had given this slave one, he had
given her three thousand lashes. Mr. Gooch
was a member of a Baptist church. His slaves,
thinking him a very bad sample of what a professing
Christian ought to be, would not join the
connexion he belonged to, thinking they must be
a very bad set of people; there were many of
them members of the Methodist church. On
Sunday, the slaves can only go to church at the
will of their master, when he gives them a pass
for the time they are to be out. If they are
found by the patrole after the time to which their
pass extends, they are severely flogged.

On Sunday nights, a slave, named Allen, used
to come to Mr. Gooch's estate for the purpose of
exhorting and praying with his brother slaves,
by whose instrumentality many of them had been
converted. One evening Mr. Gooch caught them
all in a room, turned Allen out, and threatened
his slaves with a hundred lashes each, if they
ever brought him there again. At one time Mr.
Gooch was ill and confined to his room; if any
of the slaves had done any thing which he
thought deserving a flogging, he would have them
brought into his bed-room and flogged before his
eyes.

With respect to food, he used to allow us one
peck of Indian meal each, per week, which, after
being sifted and the bran taken from it, would
not be much more than half a peck. Meat we
did not get for sometimes several weeks together;
however, he was proverbial for giving his slaves
more food than any other slave-holder. I stayed
with Mr. Gooch a year and a half. During that
time the scenes of cruelty I witnessed and experienced,
are not at all fitted for these pages.
There is much to excite disgust in what has been
narrated, but hundreds of other cases might be

mentioned. After this, Mr. Gooch, seeing that
I was determined to get away from him, chained
me, and sent me with another female slave, whom
he had treated very cruelly, to Mr. Britton, son
of the before-mentioned, a slave-dealer. We
were to have gone to Georgia to be sold, but a
bargain was struck before we arrived there. Mr.
Britton had put chains on me to please Mr.
Gooch; but having gone some little distance, we
came up with a white man, who begged Mr.
Britton to unchain me; he then took off my
hand-cuffs. We then went on to Union Courthouse,
where we met a drove of slaves; the
driver came to me, and ultimately bought me,
and sent me to his drove; the girl was sold to a
planter in the neighbourhood, as bad as Mr.
Gooch. In court week, the negro traders and
slaves encamp a little way out of the town. The
traders here will often sleep with the best-looking
female slaves among them, and they will often
have many children in the year, which are said
to be slave-holder's children, by which means,
through his villany, he will make an immense
profit of this intercourse, by selling the babe with
its mother. They often keep an immense stock

of slaves on hand. Many of them will be with
the trader a year or more before they are sold.
Mr. Marcus Rowland, the drover who bought
me, then returned with his slaves to his brother's
house, (Mr. John Rowland,) where he kept his
drove, on his way to Virginia. He kept me as
a kind of servant. I had to grease the faces of
the blacks every morning with sweet oil, to make
them shine before they are put up to sell. After
he had been round several weeks and sold many
slaves, he left me and some more at his brother's
house, while he went on to Washington,
about six hundred miles, to buy some more
slaves, the drove having got very small. We
were treated very well while there, having plenty
to eat, and little work to do, in order to make us
fat. I was brought up more as a domestic slave,
as they generally prefer slaves of my colour for
that purpose. When Mr. Rowland came back,
having been absent about five months, he found
all the slaves well, except one female, who had
been grieving very much at being parted from her
parents, and at last died of grief. He dressed
us very nicely, and went on again. I travelled
with him for a year, and had to look over the

slaves, and see that they were dressed well, had
plenty of food, and to oil their faces. During
this time, we stopped once at White House
Church, a Baptist association; a protracted camp
meeting was holding there, on the plan of the revival
meetings in this country. We got there at
the time of the meeting, and sold two female
slaves on the Sunday morning, at the time the
meeting broke up, to a gentleman who had been
attending the meeting the whole of the week.
While I was with Mr. Rowland we were at many
such meetings, and the members of the churches
are by this means so well influenced towards
their fellow creatures, at these meetings for the
worship of God, that it becomes a fruitful season
for the drover, who carries on immense traffic
with the attendants at these places. This is
common to Baptists and Methodists. At the
end of the year he exchanged me to a farmer,
Mr. David Goodley, for a female slave, in Greenville,
about fourteen miles from Greenville Courthouse.
The gentleman was going to Missouri
to settle, and on his way had to pass through
Ohio, a free state. But having learnt, after he
bought me, that I had before tried to get away to

the free states, he was afraid to take me with
him, and I was again exchanged to a Mr. Marvel
Louis. He was in the habit of travelling a great
deal, and took me as a domestic slave to wait on
him. Mr. Louis boarded at the house of Mr.
Clevelin, a very rich planter at Greenville, South
Carolina. Mr. L. was paying his addresses to
the daughter of this gentleman, but was surprised
and routed in his approaches, by a Colonel Dorkin,
of Union Court-house, who ultimately carried
her off in triumph. After this Mr. Louis
took to drinking, to drown his recollection of disappointed
love. One day he went to Pendleton
races, and I waited on the road for him; returning
intoxicated, he was thrown from his horse
into a brook, and was picked up by a gentleman
and taken to an inn, and I went there to take care
of him. Next day he went on to Punkintown with
Mr. Warren R. Davis, a member of Congress; I
went with him. This was at the time of the
agitation of the Union and Nullifying party, which
was expected to end in a general war. The Nullifying
party had a grand dinner on the occasion,
after which they gave their slaves all the refuse,
for the purpose of bribing them to fight on the

side of their party. The scene on this occasion
was most humorous, all the slaves scrambling
after bare bones and crumbs, as if they had had
nothing for months. When Mr. Louis had got
over this fit of drunkenness, we returned to
Greenville, where I had little to do, except in the
warehouse. There was preaching in the Courthouse
on the Sunday, but scarcely had the sweet
savour of the worship of God passed away,
when, on Monday, a public auction was held for
the sale of slaves, cattle, sugar, iron, &c., by Z.
Davis, the high constable, and others.

On these days, I was generally very busy in
handing out the different articles for inspection,
and was employed in this way for several months.
After which, Mr. Louis left this place for Pendleton;
but his health getting worse, and fast
approaching consumption, he determined to travel.
I went with him over Georgia to the Indian
springs, and from there to Columbus; here he
left me with Lawyer Kemp, a member of the State
Assembly, to take care of his horses and carriage
till he came back from Cuba, where he went for
the benefit of his health. I travelled round with
Mr. Kemp, waiting until my master came back.

I soon after heard that Mr. Louis had died at Appalachicola,
and had been buried at Tennessee
Bluff. I was very much attached to the neighbourhood
of Pendleton and Greenville, and feared,
from Mr. Louis's death, I should not get back
there.

As soon as this information arrived, Mr. Kemp
put me, the carriage and horses, a gold watch,
and cigars, up to auction, on which I was much
frightened, knowing there would be some very
cruel masters at the sale, and fearing I should
again be disappointed in my attempt so escape
from bondage. Mr. Beveridge, a Scotchman,
from Appalachicola, bought me, the horses, and
cigars. He was not a cruel master; he had
been in America eighteen years, and, I believe, I
was the first slave he ever bought. Mr. Kemp
had no right to sell me, which he did, before he
had written to Mr. Louis's brother.

Shortly after this, Mr. Kemp, having some altercation
with General Woodfork, it ended in a
duel, in which Mr. W. was killed. A few weeks
after, as Mr. Kemp was passing down a street,
he was suddenly shot dead by Mr. Milton, a
rival lawyer. When I heard this, I considered

it a visitation of God on Mr. Kemp for having
sold me unjustly, as I did not belong to him.
This was soon discovered by me, Mr. Louis's
brother having called at Mackintosh Hotel, Columbus,
to claim me, but which he could not effect.
After this, I travelled with Mr. Beveridge,
through Georgia to the warm springs, and then
came back to Columbus, going on to Marianna,
his summer house, in Florida.

Here I met with better treatment than I had
ever experienced before; we travelled on the
whole summer; at the fall, Mr. Beveridge went
to Appalachicola on business. Mr. Beveridge
was contractor for the mail from Columbus to
Appalachicola, and owner of three steamboats,
the Versailles, Andrew Jackson, and Van Buren.
He made me steward on board the Versailles, the
whole winter. The river then got so low that
the boats could not run. At this time Mr. Beveridge
went to Mount Vernon. On our way we
had to pass through the Indian nation. We arrived
at Columbus, where I was taken dangerously
ill of a fever. After I got well, Mr. Beveridge
returned to Marianna, through the Indian
nation. Having gone about twelve miles, he

was taken very ill. I took him out of the carriage
to a brook, and washed his hands and feet
until he got better, when I got him into the carriage
again, and drove off till we came to General
Irving's, where he stopped several days on account
of his health. While there, I observed on
the floor of the kitchen several children, one
about three months old, without anybody to take
care of her; I asked where her mother was, and
was told that Mrs. Irving had given her a very
hard task to do at washing in a brook about a
quarter of a mile distant. We heard after, that
not being able to get it done, she had got some
cords, tied them round her neck, climbed up a
tree, swung off, and hung herself. Being missed,
persons were sent after her, who observed several
buzzards flying about a particular spot, to which
they directed their steps, and found the poor woman
nearly eaten up.

After this, we travelled several months without
any thing remarkable taking place.

In the year 1834, Mr. Beveridge, who was
now residing in Appalachicola, a town in West
Florida, became a bankrupt, when all his property

was sold, and I fell into the hands of a very
cruel master, Mr. Register, a planter in the same
state, of whom, knowing his savage character, I
always had a dread. Previously to his purchasing
me, he had frequently taunted me, by saying,
"You have been a gentleman long enough, and,
whatever may be the consequences, I intend to
buy you." To which I remarked, that I would
on no account live with him if I could help it.
Nevertheless, intent upon his purpose, in the
month of July, 1834, he bought me, after which,
I was so exasperated that I cared not whether I
lived or died; in fact, whilst I was on my passage
from Appalachicola, I procured a quart bottle
of whiskey, for the purpose of so intoxicating
myself, that I might be able, either to plunge
myself into the river, or so to enrage my master,
that he should despatch me forthwith. I was,
however, by a kind Providence, prevented from
committing this horrid deed by an old slave on
board, who, knowing my intention, secretly took
the bottle from me; after which my hands were
tied, and I was led into the town of Ochesa, to a
warehouse, where my master was asked, by the
proprietor of the place, the reason for his confining

my hands; in answer to which, Mr. Register
said, that he had purchased me. The proprietor,
however, persuaded him to untie me; after which
my master being excessively drunk, asked for a
cow-hide, intending to flog me, from which the
proprietor dissuaded him, saying, that he had
known me for some time, and he was sure that I
did not require to be flogged. From this place,
we proceeded about mid-day on our way, he
placing me on the bare back of a half starved old
horse, which he had purchased, and upon which
sharp surface he kindly intended I should ride
about eighty miles, the distance we were then
from his home. In this unpleasant situation, I
could not help reflecting upon the prospects before
me, not forgetting that I had heard that my
new master had been in the habit of stealing cattle
and other property, and among other things,
a slave woman, and that I had said, as it afterwards
turned out, in the hearing of some one
who communicated the saying to my master,
that I had been accustomed to live with a gentleman,
and not with a rogue; and, finding that he
had been informed of this, I had the additional

dread of a few hundred lashes for it, on my arrival
at my destination.

About two hours after we started, it began to
rain very heavily, and continued to do so until
we arrived at Marianna, about twelve at night,
where we were to rest till morning. My master
here questioned me, as to whether I intended to
run away or not; and I not then knowing the
sin of lying, at once told him that I would not.
He then gave me his clothes to dry; I took them
to the kitchen for that purpose, and he retired to
bed, taking a bag of clothes belonging to me with
him, as a kind of security, I presume, for my
safety. In an hour or two afterwards I took his
clothes to him dried, and found him fast asleep.
I placed them by his side, and said, that I would
then take my own to dry too, taking care to
speak loud enough to ascertain whether he was
asleep or not, knowing that he had a dirk and a
pistol by his side, which he would not have hesitated
using against me, if I had attempted secretly
to have procured them. I was glad to find, that
the effects of his drinking the day before had
caused his sleeping very soundly, and I immediately
resolved on making my escape; and without

loss of time, started with my few clothes into
the woods, which were in the immediate neighbourhood;
and, after running many miles, I came
to the river Chapoli, which is very deep, and so
beset with alligators, that I dared not attempt to
swim across. I paced up and down this river,
with the hope of finding a conveyance across, for
a whole day, the succeeding night, and till noon
the following day, which was Saturday. About
twelve o'clock on that day I discovered an Indian
canoe, which had not, from all appearance, been
used for some time; this, of course, I used to
convey myself across, and after being obliged to
go a little way down the river, by means of a
piece of wood I providentially found in the boat,
I landed on the opposite side. Here I found
myself surrounded by planters looking for me, in
consequence of which I hid myself in the bushes
until night, when I again travelled several miles,
to the farm of a Mr. Robinson, a large sugar-planter,
where I rested till morning in a field.
Afterwards I set out, working my way through
the woods about twenty miles towards the east;
this I knew by my knowledge of the position of
the sun at its rising. Having reached the Chattahoochee

River, which divides Florida from
Georgia, I was again puzzled to know how to
cross. It was three o'clock in the day, when a
number of persons were fishing; having walked
for some hours along the banks, I at last, after
dark, procured a ferry-boat, which not being able,
from the swiftness of the river, to steer direct
across, I was carried many miles down the river,
landing on the Georgian side, from whence I
proceeded on through the woods two or three
miles, and came to a little farm-house about
twelve at night; at a short distance from the
house, I found an old slave hut, into which I
went, and informed the old man, who appeared
seventy or eighty years old, that I had had a very
bad master, from whom I had run away; and
asked him, if he could give me something to eat,
having had no suitable food for three or four
days; he told me, he had nothing but a piece of
dry Indian bread, which he cheerfully gave me;
having eaten it, I went on a short distance from
the hut, and laid down in the wood to rest for an
hour or two. All the following day, (Monday,) I
continued travelling through the woods, was
greatly distressed for want of water to quench

my thirst, it being a very dry country, till I came
to Spring Creek, which is a wide, deep stream,
and with some of which I gladly quenched my
thirst. I then proceeded to cross the same by a
bridge close by, and continued my way till dusk.
I came to a gentleman's house in the woods,
where I inquired how far it was to the next house,
taking care to watch an opportunity to ask some
individual whom I could master, and get away
from, if any interruption to my progress was attempted.
I went on for some time, it being a
very fine moonlight night, and was presently
alarmed by the howling of a wolf very near me,
which I concluded was calling other wolves to
join him in attacking me, having understood that
they always assemble in numbers for such a purpose.
The howling increased, and I was still
pursued, and the numbers were evidently increasing
fast; but I was happily rescued from my
dreadful fright, by coming to some cattle, which
attracted the wolves, and saved my life; for I
could not get up the trees for safety, they being
very tall pines, the lowest branches of which
were at least forty or fifty feet from the ground,
and the trunks very large and smooth.

About two o'clock I came to the house of a
Mr. Cherry, on the borders of the Flint River; I
went up to the house, and called them up to beg
something to eat; but having nothing cooked,
they kindly allowed me to lie down in the porch,
where they made me a bed. In conversation
with this Mr. Cherry, I discovered that I had
known him before, having been in a steamboat,
the Versailles, some months previous, which
sunk very near his house, but which I did not at
first discern to be the same. I then thought that
it would not be prudent for me to stop there,
and therefore told them I was in a hurry to get
on, and must start very early again, he having no
idea who I was; and I gave his son six cents to
take me across the river, which he did when the
sun was about half an hour high, and unfortunately
landed me where there was a man building
a boat, who knew me very well, and my
former master too; he calling me by name, asked
me where I was going.

I was very much frightened at being discovered,
but summoned up courage, and said, that
my master had gone on to Tallyhassa by the
coach, and that there was not room for me, and

I had to walk round to meet him. I then asked
the man to put me into the best road to get there,
which, however, I knew as well as he did, having
travelled there before; he directed me the
best way, but I of course took the contrary direction,
wanting to get on to Savannah. By this
hasty and wicked deception I saved myself from
going to Bainbridge prison, which was close by,
and to which I should surely have been taken
had it been known that I was making my escape.

Leaving Bainbridge, I proceeded about forty
miles, travelling all day under a scorching sun
through the woods, in which I saw many deer
and serpents, until I reached Thomas Town in
the evening. I there inquired the way to Augusta
of a man whom I met, and also asked
where I could obtain lodgings, and was told that
there was a poor minister about a mile from the
place who would give me lodgings. I accordingly
went and found them in a little log-house,
where, having awakened the family, I found them
all lying on the bare boards, where I joined them
for the remainder of the night.

In the morning the old gentleman prayed for
me that I might be preserved on my journey; he

had previously asked me where I was going,
and I knowing, that if I told him the right place,
any that inquired of him for me would be able to
find me, asked the way to Augusta instead of
Savannah, my real destination. I also told him
that I was partly Indian and partly white, but I
am also partly African; but this I omitted to tell
him, knowing if I did I should be apprehended.
After I had left this hut, I again inquired for Augusta,
for the purpose of misleading my pursuers,
but I afterwards took my course through the
woods, and came into a road, called the Coffee
road, which General Jackson cut down for his
troops, at the time of the war between the Americans
and Spaniards, in Florida; in which road
there are but few houses, and which I preferred
for the purpose of avoiding detection.

After several days I left this road, and took a
more direct way to Savannah, where I had to
wade through two rivers before I came to the
Alatamah, which I crossed in a ferry-boat, about
a mile below the place where the rivers Oconee
and Ocmulgee run together into one river, called
the Alatamah. I here met with some cattle drovers,
who were collecting cattle to drive to Savannah.

On walking on before them, I began
to consider in what way I could obtain a passport
for Savannah, and determined on the following
plan: --

I called at a cottage, and after I had talked
some time with the wife, who began to feel
greatly for me, in consequence of my telling her
a little of my history, (her husband being out
hunting,) I pretended to show her my passport,
feeling for it everywhere about my coat and hat,
and not finding it, I went back a little way pretending
to look for it, but came back saying I
was very sorry, but I did not know where it
was. At last the man came home, carrying a
deer upon his shoulders, which he brought into
the yard and began to dress it. The wife then
went out to tell him my situation, and after long
persuasion he said he could not write, but that if
I could tell his son what was in my passport he
should write me one; and knowing that I should
not be able to pass Savannah without one, and
having heard several free colored men read
theirs, I thought I could tell the lad what to write.
The lad sat down and wrote what I told him,
nearly filling a large sheet of paper for the passport,

and another sheet with recommendations.
These being completed, I was invited to partake
of some of the fresh venison, which the woman
of the house had prepared for dinner, and having
done so, and feeling grateful for their kindness, I
proceeded on my way. Going along I took my
papers out of my pocket, and looking at them,
although I could not read a word, I perceived
that the boy's writing was very unlike other
writing that I had seen, and was greatly blotted
besides; consequently I was afraid that these
documents would not answer my purpose, and
began to consider what other plan I could pursue
to obtain another pass.

I had now to wade through another river to
which I came, and which I had great difficulty
in crossing in consequence of the water overflowing
the banks of several rivers to the extent of
upwards of twenty miles. In the midst of the
water I passed one night upon a small island, and
the next day I went through the remainder of the
water. On many occasions I was obliged to
walk upon my toes, and consequently found the
advantage of being six feet two inches high, and
at other times was obliged to swim. In the

middle of this extremity I felt it would be imprudent
for me to return; for if my master was in
pursuit of me, my safest place from him was in
the water, if I could keep my head above the surface.
I was, however, dreadfully frightened,
and most earnestly prayed that I might be kept
from a watery grave, and resolved that if again I
landed, I would spend my life in the service of God.

Having through mercy again started on my
journey, I met with the drovers, and having,
whilst in the water, taken the pass out of my hat,
and so dipped it in the water as to spoil it, I
showed it to the men, and asked them where I
could get another. They told me, that in the
neighbourhood there lived a rich cotton merchant,
who would write me one. They took me to
him, and gave their word, that they saw the
passport before it was wet, (for I had previously
showed it to them,) upon which the cotton
planter wrote a free pass and a recommendation,
to which the cow-drovers affixed their marks.

The recommendation was as follows:

"John Roper, a very interesting young lad,
whom I have seen and travelled with for eighty
or ninety miles on his road from Florida, is a

free man, descended from Indian and white. I
trust, he will be allowed to pass on without
interruption, being convinced from what I have
seen that he is free, and though dark, is not an
African. I had seen his papers before they were
wetted."

These cow-drovers, who procured me the
passport and recommendation from the cotton
planter, could not read; and they were intoxicated
when they went with me to him. I am
part African, as well as Indian and white, my
father being a white man, Henry Roper, Esq.,
Caswell county, North Carolina, U. S., a very
wealthy slave-holder, who sold me when quite a
child, for the strong resemblance I bore to him.
My mother is part Indian, part African; but I
dared not disclose that, or I should have been
taken up. I then had eleven miles to go to Savannah,
one of the greatest slave-holding cities in
America, and where they are always looking out
for runaway slaves. When at this city, I had
travelled about five hundred miles. It required

great courage to pass through this place. I went
through the main street with apparent confidence,
though much alarmed; did not stop at any house
in the city, but went down immediately to the
dock, and inquired for a berth, as a steward to a
vessel to New York. I had been in this capacity
before on the Appalachicola River. The person
whom I asked to procure me a berth was steward
of one of the New York packets; he knew Captain
Deckay, of the schooner Fox, and got me a
situation on board that vessel, in five minutes
after I had been at the docks. The schooner
Fox was a very old vessel, twenty-seven years
old, laden with lumber and cattle for New York;
she was rotten and could not be insured. The
sailors were afraid of her; but I ventured on
board, and five minutes after we dropped from
the docks into the river. My spirits then began
to revive, and I thought I should get to a free
country directly. We cast anchor in the stream,
to keep the sailors on, as they were so dissatisfied
with the vessel, and lay there four days; during
which time I had to go into the city several
times, which exposed me to great danger, as my

Fearing the Fox would not sail before I should
be seized, I deserted her, and went on board a
brig sailing to Providence, that was towed out
by a steamboat, and got thirty miles from Savannah.
During this time I endeavoured to persuade
the steward to take me as an assistant, and hoped
to have accomplished my purpose; but the captain
had observed me attentively, and thought I
was a slave; he therefore ordered me, when the
steamboat was sent back, to go on board her to
Savannah, as the fine for taking a slave from that
city to any of the free states is five hundred dollars.
I reluctantly went back to Savannah,
among slave-holders and slaves. My mind was
in a sad state, and I was under strong temptation
to throw myself into the river. I had deserted
the schooner Fox, and knew that the captain
might put me into prison till the vessel was ready
to sail; if this had happened, and my master
had come to the jail in search of me, I must have
gone back to slavery. But when I reached the
docks at Savannah, the first person I met was
the captain of the Fox, looking for another steward

in my place. He was a very kind man, belonging
to the free states, and inquired if I would
go back to his vessel. This usage was very different
to what I expected, and I gladly accepted
his offer. This captain did not know that I was
a slave. In about two days we sailed from Savannah
for New York.

I am (August, 1834) unable to express the joy
I now felt. I never was at sea before, and, after
I had been out about an hour, was taken with
sea-sickness, which continued five days. I was
scarcely able to stand up, and one of the sailors
was obliged to take my place. The captain was
very kind to me all this time; but even after I
recovered, I was not sufficiently well to do my
duty properly, and could not give satisfaction to
the sailors, who swore at me, and asked me why
I shipped, as I was not used to the sea. We had
a very quick passage, and in six days after leaving
Savannah, we were in the harbour at Staten
Island, where the vessel was quarantined for two
days, six miles from New York. The captain
went to the city, but left me aboard with the
sailors, who had most of them been brought up
in the slave-holding states, and were very cruel

men. One of the sailors was particularly angry
with me because he had to perform the duties of
my place; and while the captain was in the city,
the sailors called me to the fore-hatch, where
they said they would treat me. I went, and
while I was talking, they threw a rope round my
neck and nearly choked me. The blood streamed
from my nose profusely. They also took up
ropes with large knots, and knocked me over the
head. They said I was a negro; they despised
me; and I expected they would have thrown me
into the water. When we arrived at the city,
these men, who had so ill-treated me, ran away,
that they might escape the punishment which
would otherwise have been inflicted on them.
When I arrived in the city of New York, I
thought I was free; but learned I was not, and
could be taken there. I went out into the country
several miles, and tried to get employment,
but failed, as I had no recommendation. I then
returned to New York, but finding the same difficulty
there to get work as in the country, I
went back to the vessel, which was to sail eighty
miles up the Hudson River, to Poughkeepsie.
When I arrived, I obtained employment at an

inn, and after I had been there about two days,
was seized with the cholera, which was at that
place. The complaint was, without doubt,
brought on by my having subsisted on fruit only
for several days, while I was in the slave states.
The landlord of the inn came to me when I was
in bed, suffering violently from cholera, and told
me he knew I had that complaint, and as it had
never been in his house, I could not stop there
any longer. No one would enter my room, except
a young lady, who appeared very pious and
amiable, and had visited persons with the cholera.
She immediately procured me some medicine
at her own expense, and administered it herself;
and whilst I was groaning with agony, the
landlord came up and ordered me out of the
house directly. Most of the persons in Poughkeepsie
had retired for the night, and I lay under
a shed on some cotton bales. The medicine relieved me,
having been given so promptly, and
next morning I went from the shed, and laid on
the banks of the river below the city. Towards
evening I felt much better, and went on in a
steamboat to the city of Albany, about eighty
miles. When I reached there, I went into the

country, and tried for three or four days to procure
employment, but failed.

At that time I had scarcely any money, and
lived upon fruit; so I returned to Albany, where
I could get no work, as I could not show the recommendations
I possessed, which were only
from slave states, and I did not wish any one to
know I came from them. After a time, I went
up the western canal as steward in one of the
boats. When I had gone about 350 miles up the
canal, I found I was going too much towards the
slave states, in consequence of which I returned
to Albany, and went up the northern canal into
one of the New England states, Vermont. The
distance I had travelled, including the 350 miles
I had to return from the west, and the 100 to
Vermont, was 2300 miles. When I reached
Vermont, I found the people very hospitable and
kind; they seemed opposed to slavery, so I told
them I was a runaway slave. I hired myself to
a firm in Sudbury.*
After I had been in Sudbury

some time, the neighboring farmers told me
that I had hired myself for much less money than
I ought. I mentioned it to my employers, who
were very angry about it; I was advised to
leave by some of the people round, who thought
the gentlemen I was with would write to my former
master, informing him where I was, and obtain
the reward fixed upon me. Fearing I should
be taken, I immediately left and went into the
town of Ludlow, where I met with a kind friend
Mr. --------, who sent me to school for several
weeks. At this time I was advertised in the papers,
and was obliged to leave; I went a little
way out of Ludlow to a retired place, and lived
two weeks with a Mr. --------, deacon of a
church at Ludlow; at this place I could have obtained
education, had it been safe to have

remained.* From there I went to New Hampshire,
where I was not safe, so went to Boston,
Massachusetts, with the hope of returning to
Ludlow, to which place I was much attached.
At Boston I met with a friend, who kept a shop,
and took me to assist him for several weeks.
Here I did not consider myself safe, as persons
from all parts of the country were continually
coming to the shop, and I feared some might
come who knew me. I now had my head shaved
and bought a wig, and engaged myself to a Mr.
Perkins of Brookline, three miles from Boston,
where I remained about a month. Some of the
family discovered that I wore a wig, and said that
I was a runaway slave, but the neighbors all
round thought I was a white, to prove which, I

have a document in my possession to call me to
military duty. The law is, that no slave or colored
person performs this, but every other person
in America of the age of twenty-one is called
upon to perform military duty, once or twice in
the year, or pay a fine.

COPY OF THE
DOCUMENT.

"Mr. Moses Roper,

"You being duly enrolled as a soldier in
the company, under the command of Captain
Benjamin Bradley, are hereby notified and ordered
to appear at the Town House in Brookline,
on Friday 28th instant, at 3 o'clock, P. M.,
for the purpose of filling the vacancy in said
company occasioned by the promotion of Lieut.
Nathaniel M. Weeks, and of filling any other
vacancy which may then and there occur in said
company, and there wait further orders.

" By order of the captain,
"F. P. WENTWORTH, clerk.
"Brookline, August 14th, 1835."*

shop where I was before.* Several weeks after
I had returned to my situation two colored men
informed me that a gentleman had been inquiring
for a person whom, from the description, I knew
to be myself, and offered them a considerable
sum if they would disclose my place of abode;
but they being much opposed to slavery, came
and told me, upon which information I secreted
myself till I could get off. I went into the Green
Mountains for several weeks, from thence to the
city of New York, and remained in secret several
days, till I heard of a ship, the Napoleon, sailing
to England, and on the 11th of November, 1835,
I sailed, taking with me letters of recommendation
to the Rev. Drs. Morison and Raffles, and

the Rev. Alex. Fletcher. The time I first started
from slavery was in July, 1834, so that I was
nearly sixteen months in making my escape.

On the 29th of November, 1835, I reached
Liverpool, and my feelings when I first touched
the shores of Britain were indescribable, and can
only be properly understood by those who have
escaped from the cruel bondage of slavery.

" 'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower of fleeting life its
lustre and perfume;
And we are weeds without it."

" Slaves cannot breathe in England;
If their lungs receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country and their shackles fall." -- Cowper.

When I reached
Liverpool, I proceeded to Dr.
Raffles, and handed my letters of recommendation
to him. He received me very kindly, and
introduced me to a member of his church, with
whom I stayed the night. Here I met with the
greatest attention and kindness. The next day,
I went on to Manchester, where I met with many
kind friends, among others Mr. Adshead,, a hosier
of that town, to whom I desire through this medium,
to return my most sincere thanks for the
many great services which he rendered me, adding

both to my spiritual and temporal comfort.
I would not, however, forget to remember here,
Mr. Leese, Mr. Childs, Mr. Crewdson, and Mr.
Clare, the latter of whom gave me a letter to Mr.
Scoble, the secretary of the Anti-slavery Society.
I remained here several days, and then proceeded
to London, December 12th, 1835, and immediately
called on Mr. Scoble, to whom I delivered
my letter; this gentleman procured me a lodging.
I then lost no time in delivering my letters to
Dr. Morison and the Rev. Alexander Fletcher,
who received me with the greatest kindness, and
shortly after this Dr. Morison sent my letter
from New York, with another from himself, to
the Patriot newspaper, in which he kindly implored
the sympathy of the public in my behalf.
The appeal was read by Mr. Christopherson, a
member of Dr. Morison's church, of which gentleman
I express but little of my feelings and gratitude,
when I say, that throughout he has been
towards me a parent, and for whose tenderness
and sympathy, I desire ever to feel that attachment
which I do not know how to express.

I stayed at his house several weeks, being
treated as one of the family. The appeal in the

Patriot, referred to getting a suitable academy
for me, which the Rev. Dr. Cox recommended
at Hackney, where I remained half a year, going
through the rudiments of an English education.
At this time I attended the ministry of Dr. Cox.
which I enjoyed very much, and to which I ascribe
the attainment of clearer views of divine
grace than I had before. I had attended here
several months, when I expressed my wish to
Dr. Cox to become a member of his church; I
was proposed, and after stating my experience
was admitted, March 31st, 1836. Here I feel it
a duty to present my tribute of thankfulness,
however feebly expressed, to the affectionate and
devoted attention of the Rev. Doctor, from whom,
under God, I received very much indeed of spiritual
advice and consolation, as well as a plentiful
administration to my temporal necessities. I
would not forget also to mention the kindness of
his church generally, by whom I was received
with Christian love and charity. Never, I trust,
will be effaced from my memory, the parental
care of the Rev. Dr. Morison, from whom I can
strictly say, I received the greatest kindness I
ever met with, and to whom, as long as God

gives me lips to utter, or mind to reflect, I desire
to attribute the comfort which I have experienced
since I set my foot upon the happy shores of
England.

Here it is necessary that I should draw this
narrative to a close, not that my materials are exhausted,
but that I am unwilling to extend it to a
size which might preclude many well-wishers
from the possession of it.

But I must remark, that my feelings of happiness
at having escaped from cruel bondage, are
not unmixed with sorrow of a very touching
kind. "The land of the Free" still contains
the mother, the brothers, and the sisters of Moses
Roper, not enjoying liberty, not the possessors
of like feelings with me, not having even a
distant glimpse of advancing towads freedom, but
still slaves! This is a weight which hangs
heavy on me. As circumstances at present stand,
there is not much prospect of ever again seeing
those dear ones -- that dear mother, from whom,
on the Sunday night, I was torn away by armed
slave-holders, and carried into cruel bondage.*
And, nothing would contribute so much to my

entire happiness, if the kindness of a gracious
Providence should ever place me in such favorable
circumstances as to be able to purchase the
freedom of so beloved a parent. But I desire to
express my entire resignation to the will of God.
Should that Divine Being who made of one flesh
all the kindreds of the earth, see fit that I should
again clasp them to my breast, and see in them
the reality of free men and free women, how
shall I, a poor mortal, be enabled to sing a strain
of praise sufficiently appropriate to such a boon
from heaven?

But if the all-wise Disposer of all things should
see fit to keep them still in suffering and bondage,
it is a mercy to know that he orders all things
well, that he is still the Judge of all the earth,
and that under such dispensations of his Providence,
he is working out that which shall be
most for the advantage of his creatures.

Whatever I may have experienced in America,
at the hands of cruel task-masters, yet I am unwilling
to speak in any but respectful terms of
the land of my birth. It is far from my wish to
attempt to degrade America in the eyes of Britons.
I love her institutions in the free states,

her zeal for Christ; I bear no enmity even to the
slave-holders, but regret their delusions; many I
am aware are deeply sensible of the fault, but
some I regret to say are not, and I could wish to
open their eyes to their sin; may the period
come when God shall wipe off this deep stain
from her constitution, and may America soon be
indeed the land of the free.

In conclusion, I thank my dear friends in
England for their affectionate attentions, and may
God help me to show by my future walk in life,
that I am not wanting in my acknowledgments
of their kindness. But above all, to the God of
all grace, I desire here before his people, to acknowledge
that all the way in which he has led
me, has been the right way; and as in his mercy
and wisdom, he has led me to this country,
where I am allowed to go free, may all my actions
tend to lead me on, through the mercy of
God in Christ, in the right way, to a city of habitation.